I still haven't seen weekly Live+7 program numbers for either November 17-23 or November 24-30 from Nielsen, but strangely we do have season to date (STD) numbers through November 30, so this post is different than most of our DVR posts in that it contains season to date DVR viewing data not weekly viewing data. Regular readers will note the "Most Current" column instead of the typical "Live+7" column. "Most Current" DVR data includes all the available weeks of Live+7 data plus the more recent weeks Live+SD data.

As it does most often on a weekly basis, ABC's Grey's Anatomy has the largest season to date audience via DVR viewing with an average of 3.809 million viewers via DVRs. Fox's House was second with a season to date DVR viewing audience of 2.975 million. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were Office, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, Survivor:Gabon, NCIS, Fringe, and Criminal Minds.

NBC's Office was the top show for largest share of season to date (STD) viewing via DVR with 28.0% of its total season to date Live+7 audience coming via DVR viewing. Rounding out the top 10 for largest audience share via DVR viewing were 90210, Heroes, Lipstick Jungle, America's Top Model, House, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Fringe.

Another slight change to the presentation of the data. Beginning this week I will be calculating the "% of DVR viewing done on the airdate" in the right most column. Robert's a fan of it, and it may well provide some interesting insights. I'm going to look at DVR viewing by show vs. telecast hour in detail soon, but the top shows for same day % of DVR viewing are all in unscripted shows prior to 10pm: Survivor: Gabon, Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars. The shows with the least % of DVR viewing on the same day are all 10pm shows: CSI:Miami, ER, and Lipstick Jungle, although Bones and Privileged don't exactly fit that pattern.

The largest DVR audience size table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest absolute number of viewers watching shows at any time on their digital video recorders (DVRs) for the season to date through November 30, 2008.

Season To Date Greatest % Of Overall Viewing By DVR for Broadcast TV Shows:

Rank

Programs

Net

Persons Most Current (000s)

Persons Live+SD (000s)

Persons Live (000s)

Same Day DVR Viewers (000s)

Most Current DVR Viewers (000s)

% of All Viewing By DVR

% of DVR Viewing On Airdate

1

OFFICE

NBC

10,083

8,788

7,261

1,527

2,822

28.0%

54.1%

2

90210

CW

3,576

3,086

2,645

441

931

26.0%

47.4%

3

HEROES

NBC

10,017

8,665

7,480

1,185

2,537

25.3%

46.7%

4

LIPSTICK JUNGLE

NBC

5,122

4,298

3,979

319

1,143

22.3%

27.9%

5

AMERICA'S TOP MODEL-5

CW

4,345

3,951

3,395

556

950

21.9%

58.5%

6

HOUSE

FOX

13,999

12,596

11,024

1,572

2,975

21.3%

52.8%

7

GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM

ABC

18,054

15,943

14,245

1,698

3,809

21.1%

44.6%

8

GOSSIP GIRL-MON

CW

3,456

3,108

2,732

376

724

20.9%

51.9%

9

TERMINATOR: SRH CNR CHRON

FOX

6,064

5,395

4,796

599

1,268

20.9%

47.2%

10

FRINGE

FOX

10,342

9,125

8,225

900

2,117

20.5%

42.5%

11

30 ROCK

NBC

8,753

7,875

7,008

867

1,745

19.9%

49.7%

12

SMALLVILLE

CW

4,696

4,168

3,765

403

931

19.8%

43.3%

13

PRISON BREAK

FOX

6,306

5,682

5,098

584

1,208

19.2%

48.3%

14

PRIVILEGED

CW

2,191

1,916

1,772

144

419

19.1%

34.4%

15

CHUCK

NBC

7,129

6,543

5,808

735

1,321

18.5%

55.6%

16

SUPERNATURAL

CW

3,765

3,332

3,078

254

687

18.2%

37.0%

17

BONES

FOX

11,031

10,055

9,042

1,013

1,989

18.0%

50.9%

18

LIFE

NBC

6,362

5,614

5,221

393

1,141

17.9%

34.4%

19

ONE TREE HILL-MON

CW

3,444

3,150

2,831

319

613

17.8%

52.0%

20

PRIVATE PRACTICE

ABC

8,571

7,766

7,098

668

1,473

17.2%

45.3%

The % of Total viewing by DVR table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest % of viewing by DVR in their Live+7 audience numbers from viewers watching shows later on their digital video recorders (DVRs) for the season to date through November 30, 2008.

Definitions:

DVR Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.

Same Day DVR Viewers - The number of average viewers by DVR on the airdate and until 3am the following day.

Live+7 DVR Viewers - The number of average viewers by DVR within 7 days of the airdate.

% of Viewing via DVR - The percentage of ALL viewing of a program that occurred via DVR within 7 days of the airdate.

% of DVR Viewing on Airdate - The percentage of DVR viewing of a program on the airdate and until 3am the following day.